Awa mini-blog (From the Sales and Publicity Desk)
Discount on science books15/ 8 / 11; 4:23:55 PMThis is my third week at Awa Press, helping with publicity and sales, and I'm jumping straight into it with some special offers! Given my interest in science it's great to offer members of recognised New Zealand science organisations a discount on science books. We're supporting TVNZ 7's Spotlight on Science and Innovation with a special 25% discount on our entire science range during August: North Pole, South Pole (RRP $40, now $30) The Awa Book of New Zealand Science (RRP $48, now $36) The Transit of Venus (RRP $25, now $18.75) The Elegant Universe of Albert Einstein (RRP $25, now $18.75) The Amazing World of James Hector (RRP $25, now $18.75) How to Gaze at the Southern Stars (RRP $26, now $19.50)
For orders of 10 or more we'll even throw in free postage! To place an order, simply email sales@awapress.com with the title of the recognised science organisation you're a member of in the subject line, or phone (04) 471-1834. Be quick - this deal is only available until the end of August 2011. Hitting the Beach12/ 10 / 10; 5:11:16 PMAs the weather finally starts to give us a few warm spring days, it's time to hit the beach with my summer reading - Kathy Giuffre's An Afternoon in Summer. An Afternoon in Summer is the perfect beach companion. The imagery of the warm summer days of Rarotonga help me convince myself that the brief glimpse of summer sun I'm experiencing is not just one day of warmth in the fickle Wellington weather pattern, but a sign of the warm days to come. For anyone dealing with a stressful life, An Afternoon in Summer will make you want to pack it all up and go spend a year in Rarotonga just like Giuffre; to leave all the daily stresses and troubles, and go out and experience life. Even if you can't actually do that at the moment, you can at least get a taste of it by dipping in to Giuffre's warm and inviting book. E-dilemma16/ 4 / 10; 3:10:42 PMThere's been a lot of talk about e-readers and e-books lately. Not that long ago Apple announced the iPad, and it was recently released in the US. New Zealand seems to be left out of the e-reader game, with neither the iPad nor its strong competitor the Kindle being available here. E-readers leave me conflicted however. I'm a gadget geek so I want the new shiny toy. On the other hand, I love books - how they look, how they feel, how they smell. I worked in a bookstore once and one of my favourite parts was the new-book-smell that permeated everything. So where does that leave me with e-books, with their less physical presence? I'll give the iPad a go when it's available here - it's pretty, and it does a lot more than just e-books; and there are a few books that are only available as e-books. But I'll tell you right now that if I love a book, even if I own it in e-book format I'll own it in its traditional form as well. Gadgets come and go but books I'll always love. On the big screen23/ 9 / 09; 11:59:29 AMWe just recently got in the first shipment of 100 Essential New Zealand Films by Hamish McDouall. I took a copy home with me a few nights ago and ended up getting into a discussion about NZ movies with my friends. The popular opinion seemed to be that a lot of New Zealand movies are depressing. I'll admit to not having watched many of the movies in the book myself so I'm not really qualified to make a call on this. My mates have decided that I must watch Whale Rider, In My Father's Den, and Out of the Blue (all of which are included in the book) in order to rectify my decidedly lacking experience of NZ films. So far I've seen Whale Rider and I think this project is off to a good start because I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I didn't find it as depressing as I was lead to believe it was going to be. Definitely I agree that it deserves a place in the book, and I'm interested to watch more of Hamish's picks. My question to anyone reading this: which of the movies in Hamish's book do you think I should watch next? Pick up a copy of 100 Essential New Zealand Films and let me know at publicity@awapress.com Rock on NZ31/ 8 / 09; 11:32:44 AMComing from the States, I didn't used to be very familiar with New Zealand pop music. That's changed a lot in the last month. I'm spending much of my time on photo research for Nick Bollinger's new book 100 Essential New Zealand Albums. There isn't any way to do this without soaking up a lot of knowledge about all sorts of different types of bands from NZ music history. Which is excellent, because I've come across some really great music that I might not have heard otherwise. Either Nick has really good taste or NZ music is just good in general. Either way the book has opened my eyes. |
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